Avery not making friends anywhere

Dallas forward meets with Bettman, awaits word on fate

Brett Hull said he thinks Sean Avery might actually need medical attention to solve his problems and the Dallas Stars would be willing to provide it.

Seriously.

And with that knowledge, you need wonder no more how Avery wound up such a troubling little man in Big D. Hull is just the kind of enabler Avery and his ilk must always have in their corner. The co-general manager convinced Stars ownership to see Avery not as the roster pain he has long been, but the gritty player he could be, if only he would acknowledge his tiny but effective place in the game and play it to the hilt. Hull also got them to pay $15 million US for the pleasure.

Brett Hull said he thinks Sean Avery might actually need medical attention to solve his problems and the Dallas Stars would be willing to provide it.

Seriously.

And with that knowledge, you need wonder no more how Avery wound up such a troubling little man in Big D. Hull is just the kind of enabler Avery and his ilk must always have in their corner. The co-general manager convinced Stars ownership to see Avery not as the roster pain he has long been, but the gritty player he could be, if only he would acknowledge his tiny but effective place in the game and play it to the hilt. Hull also got them to pay $15 million US for the pleasure.

While there is no doubt Avery's flapping jawbone has no connection to his cerebral cortex, Hull is over-stating it to suggest a more textbook problem than foot-in-mouth disease. What Avery obviously needs is the amount of attention afforded the National Hockey League players he mocks. He simply cannot abide the fact he plays in a league chock full of stars and he isn't one of them. He's envious of Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Martin Brodeur, Shane Doan and Dion Phaneuf; miffed that he has never been cast as more than a bit player, and conflicted by the fact he comes across more often as a one-dimensional cartoon character. His insignificance must gnaw at every selfish fibre of his being, and no doubt plays a role in producing the sad little comedy he has taken on the road with him. Any spotlight will do in a pinch, but there are always legitimate stars like Jaromir Jagr or Mike Modano around, earning the encores fair and square with their on-ice play. Avery is forever reduced to sideshow status, and while the intermittent attention surely strokes his disproportionate ego, top billing is what he craves.

Inevitably, his boorish act plays to lousy local reviews and team management in Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and now Dallas who may find him valuable at first soon see him as irritating and eventually expendable.

On Wednesday, a frustrated and embarrassed head coach Dave Tippett made it crystal clear Avery is persona non grata following his crass, embarrassing and calculated comment in Calgary. Avery's apology, surely written by somebody who knows the meaning of the word mitigation, will hold no sway with Tippett, incensed owner Tom Hicks or Avery's disgusted teammates.

"I try to build a team that has an atmosphere where players care about each other and play for each other and play with continuity," said Tippett. "I find it hard to believe Sean could come back in that dressing room and we could find that continuity again. He's painted our organization with a brush nobody wants to be painted with."

A hammer will follow. The NHL has built its case on more than Tuesday's release of verbal effluent.

Avery appeared on commissioner Gary Bettman's carpet Thursday and it t is safe to say Bettman has long passed viewing Avery as an irritant and has seized upon a way to make him expendable, if only for awhile. He's a serial idiot, no question, but the league realizes the punishment parameters in play here.

The Stars, however, can and will deliver their own banishment. Can they void his deal? Buy him out? Send him to Siberia?

The Stars know their room is a far better place without him. Good quality leaders like Marty Turco, Brenden Morrow and Modano have barely disguised their disdain for Avery several times this year, including Tuesday.

He has contributed almost nothing but distraction, his 10 points coming at a cost of $350,000 per.

"Now our focus seems to be within ourselves and our team and how we handle it," said Modano.

They are handling the mess Avery has made with a steely resolve to leave it behind and start winning.

"He's not here. Out of sight, out of mind," said Turco.

Their relief is practically palpable. And there is no need to wonder how Avery was voted the most overrated and hated player in the league by his peers in a damning double-whammy.

This is not a new act, either. Avery's shelf life was well established as he lasted two years with the Owen Sound Platers, two with Kingston, two in Cincinnati, two in Detroit, two in Los Angeles before the lockout reset the clock, then two more. Two in New York. And now this, just 23 games with Dallas.

There is no tolerance for him in that room anymore, but what's to say there isn't another enabler out there somewhere who might get fooled again? A Dallas Observer writer was so bamboozled by Avery's bad-boy act that he penned a glowing feature which included a contention that Avery is "one of the NHL's most feared players."

He almost got it right. There are probably players in 29 NHL cities who fear Avery will be traded to their team. And 22 Dallas Stars who fear for the future if he is given one last chance to ruin theirs.

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Vickie

July 02, 2010 - 13:35

I don't think Sean Avery is any worse than the person who could go on for umpteen paragraphs raking him over the coals. Is there really nothing else to write about??? This article was a waste of my time - five minutes of my life I can never get back.

I don't think Sean Avery is any worse than the person who could go on for umpteen paragraphs raking him over the coals. Is there really nothing else to write about??? This article was a waste of my time - five minutes of my life I can never get back.

HBG

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